Review: Pluribus, "Please, Carol" | Season 1, Episode 4

What do you do when there are no unassimilated scientists left on earth? Why, become a scientist yourself.

When Carol asked about medical or scientific training among the remaining individuals, she was probably hoping for answers, from some expert with relevant knowledge. But the scientific method is available to everyone. That’s how the knowledge gets generated. Methodically catalog what you know. Hypothesize based on that knowledge. Design an experiment. Carry it out. Add the results to your store of knowledge. Rinse and repeat.

Carol may not have STEM training, but she knows about method. After all, she has to plot her Wycaro books—get from start to finish in a logical fashion, generate conflict, stay consistent with the worlds as established. We see her whiteboard of ideas mapping out “Wycaro #5,” seemingly pointless now but not something she’s yet ready to let go. Behind that is a fresh blank board, ready to systematize what we know so far. Detective corkboards, writer’s notecards, those cool glass partitions that lab people are always writing on in forensic shows or ads for universities—they’re all ways of externalizing the chaos within, in ways that let one thought lead to another.